Phillies acquire pitcher Jesus Luzardo in trade with Marlins

What’s a team to do when it’s unable to significantly improve its lineup?

Load up on pitching, of course.

The Phillies took a big step in the latter direction Sunday, trading for lefty Jesús Luzardo from the Marlins for 19-year-old shortstop prospect Starlyn Caba and minor league outfielder Emaarion Boyd, two league sources confirmed and the team later announced. The Phillies also received double-A catcher Paul McIntosh.

Luzardo, 27, is expected to slot into the back end of the rotation but has top-of-the-rotation upside if he stays healthy. He had a 3.58 ERA in 178⅔ innings over 32 starts two seasons ago before struggling last season to a 5.00 ERA in only 12 starts and being short-circuited in June, first by elbow soreness and later a stress reaction in his back.

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“The only issue is health for Jesús, but he can pitch like a [No.] 1 or 2 on any given outing,” a talent evaluator from a rival National League team said Sunday morning. “The best is yet to come for him.”

Pitching for a contender should help Luzardo, too, according to the evaluator. It isn’t a coincidence that Luzardo’s solid season in 2023 came for a wild-card Marlins team. He was Miami’s Game 1 starter against the Phillies and allowed three runs in four innings at Citizens Bank Park.

The Phillies will have two seasons of control over Luzardo. He’s eligible for salary arbitration and due to make approximately $6 million in 2025, based on MLB Trade Rumors’ projections. He could also eventually help the Phillies replace Ranger Suárez, who can be a free agent after next season and recently hired Scott Boras as his agent.

In the meantime, Luzardo will join a rotation that is led by Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola. He joins fellow lefties Cristopher Sánchez and Suárez in rounding out the starting staff, which is now the deepest, if not the best, in the NL.

And that’s before Andrew Painter arrives. The 20-year-old top prospect is expected to make his hotly anticipated major-league debut by at least the middle of next season.

Since the Phillies were vanquished by the Mets in the divisional round of the playoffs, president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said often that they would be “open-minded” to improving the roster. But the payroll was also butting up to the highest luxury-tax threshold ($301 million), leaving the Phillies little maneuverability without incurring a severe penalty.

» READ MORE: Andrew Painter is healthy and pitching again. Here’s how the Phillies are planning for his return in 2025.

Dombrowski set out to change the mix of the lineup, which has become easier to attack because of the tendency of several Phillies hitters to swing at pitches out of the strike zone. Thus far, he has acquired only one bat: outfielder Max Kepler, on a one-year, $10 million contract. Dombrowski all but ruled out bigger moves, saying Friday that he “would be surprised if we got into impactful free-agent type of signings from an offensive perspective.”

But the Phillies explored other ways to get better, including a revival of trade talks last month with the White Sox for hard-throwing lefty Garrett Crochet. They were unwilling to include Painter, or multiple top prospects, for two seasons of control over Crochet.

(Chicago eventually flipped him to the Red Sox for four prospects, including two who were rated among Baseball America’s top 100.)

In trading for Luzardo, the Phillies gave up only one coveted prospect. Caba batted .228 with a .669 OPS in his first full minor league season after signing out of the Dominican Republic in 2023.

But although the slick-fielding 19-year-old was ranked as the fourth-best player in the Phillies’ farm system, he’s years away from reaching the majors. Caba is also behind 20-year-old shortstop prospect Aidan Miller, who likely will reach triple A next season.

When healthy, Luzardo has traits similar to Crochet’s. Two seasons ago, his fastball averaged 96.7 mph and his strikeout rate climbed to 28.1%. As the Marlins retrenched last season after one year of playoff contention, they likely would have traded Luzardo at the deadline in July if he hadn’t gotten injured.

» READ MORE: J.T. Realmuto or … who? The Phillies will face a complex decision with their star catcher.

By adding Luzardo, in addition to the signings of reliever Jordan Romano and Kepler, the Phillies nudged the projected payroll over the $301 million mark. Any additional moves, without shedding money elsewhere, will incur a 110% tariff.

The addition of Luzardo allows for the possibility that the Phillies could trade a starting pitcher for more offense. They could market Suárez as a one-year rental for a pitching-needy contender. The Orioles, for instance, could be a potential landing spot if they don’t re-sign ace Corbin Burnes or replace him.

It seems more likely, though, that the Phillies will count on the rotation as their biggest strength, a sensible strategy at a time when hitting is as difficult as it has been in more than half a century. In 2024, the league-average hitter batted .243, tied for the lowest mark since 1968, the infamous “Year of the Pitcher,” which prompted MLB to lower the mound.

The calculus could change in midseason, once Painter joins the rotation and if Taijuan Walker bounces back from a 7.10 ERA. But the Phillies lack starting pitching depth in the upper minors, a weakness that became evident during the second half of last season when Suárez dealt with a sore back and Walker cratered.

And so, the Phillies appear intent on loading up on starting pitching.

That’s what being “open-minded” is all about.